The Big One - The Art of the Prank

May 20, 2009December 15, 2023

Holy Mineral Deposits

Mass. hospital deciding fate of Virgin Mary window
1010WINS
May 16, 2009

hospital-window-200 Springfield, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts hospital is trying to figure out what to do with a window in which some Catholics claim to see an image of the Virgin Mary.

Hundreds of faithful gathered last October to view the second-story office window at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, about 80 miles west of Boston. They wept and prayed.

The Catholic hospital removed the window after the crush of visitors caused traffic problems. It’s storing the window at a secret location.

Hospital spokesman Mark Fulco tells The Republican newspaper of Springfield he’s waiting for a report from experts to determine if the window is worthy of veneration.

Engineers say the image appeared when a failed rubber seal allowed mineral deposits between panes of glass.

But hospital officials say that doesn’t explain why the deposits resemble the Virgin Mary.

photo: boston.com

May 1, 2009December 15, 2023

Our Lady of the Griddle

Diners report seeing Virgin Mary in food griddle
1010WINS
April 30, 2009

holytoast Calexico, Calif. (AP) — The hottest thing on the griddle at the Las Palmas restaurant these days isn’t the food – it’s the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that a cook says she saw on the griddle.

Restaurant manager Brenda Martinez says more than 100 people have flocked to the small town of Calexico on the California-Mexico border to gaze at the likeness of the Virgin Mary since it was discovered as the griddle was being cleaned.

Among the awe-struck was a group of masked Mexican wrestlers who arrived Thursday for an exhibition at a nearby swap meet.

One, known as Mr. Tempest, says: “This is amazing. It’s a true miracle.”

Since the discovery, the griddle has been taken out of service and placed in a shrine in a storage room.

image: Perpetual Kid

Happy Easter from The Art of the Prank!

happyeaster

thanks Erin

April 6, 2009December 15, 2023

Robert Delford Brown, RIP

Robert Delford Brown, “˜Happenings” Artist, Dies at 78
by Bruce Weber
The New York Times
April 4, 2009

Robert Delford Brown, a painter, sculptor, performance artist and avant-garde philosopher whose exuberantly provocative works challenged orthodoxies of both the art world and the world at large, usually with a big wink, was found dead on March 24 in the Cape Fear River in Wilmington, N.C.

He was 78 and lived in Wilmington, where he had moved two or three years ago to prepare for a 2008 exhibition of his work at the Cameron Art Museum there.

The death has been ruled accidental, Deputy Sheriff Charles Smith of the New Hanover County Sheriff”s office in North Carolina said. The cause appeared to be drowning. Mr. Brown was last seen on March 20, said his stepdaughter, Carol Cone. Mr. Brown, who had had hip surgery and walked with a cane, was known to have been scouting locations for an art project in the river involving a number of rafts, and he is thought to have fallen in.

A colleague of artists like Jim Dine, Claes Oldenburg and Nam June Paik, Mr. Brown was a central figure in the anarchic New York art scene of the early 1960s, a participant in “” and instigator of “” events-as-art known as “happenings.” He saw the potential for aesthetic pronouncement in virtually everything. His métier was willful preposterousness, and his work contained both anger and insouciance.

His raw materials included buildings, pornographic photos and even meat carcasses. Continue reading “Robert Delford Brown, RIP”

March 30, 2009December 15, 2023

Martin le Chevallier’s Miraculous European Flag

Submitted by André Gattolin:

Press release
Brussels: A Procession in Praise of a Miraculous European Flag

A procession lead by the french artist Martin Le Chevalier will bring to Brussels a miraculous European flag. The flag, on which has appeared Christ’s face, would be proof of the European Christian identity. It will be transported on man’s back in a reliquary. The procession’s arrival at the European parliament is planned on Monday the 30th of March at 3pm.

Martin Le Chevallier, visual artist, lives and works in Paris.

About the Artist:

Born in May 1968, Martin Le Chevallier is one the first artists to use videogames and interactive films to produce a body of work which aims at critically reviewing our contemporary myths and ideologies. He created various experimental and interactive films, exploring personal thoughts and behaviors from characters dealing with social situations.

Maurice le Chevallier, The Audit

In 2008, he hired a consulting firm to assess the validity of his artistic and commercial choices by conducting an “artistic performance audit.” Continue reading “Martin le Chevallier’s Miraculous European Flag”